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Fearing deportation, Burundi refugees quit DRC for Rwanda

Thursday March 8 2018

A group of 2,500 Burundian refugees, fearing repatriation to their home country, walked from Democratic Republic of Congo to nearby Rwanda.

In Summary

In September last year 36 Burundian refugees died in clashes with Congolese soldiers during a protest over the detention of some of their counterparts.

Tens of thousands of Burundians have fled to the eastern DR Congo to escape a wave of violence that unfurled in 2015 after Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a fiercely contested third term in office.

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By AFP

A group of 2,500 Burundian refugees, fearing repatriation to their home country, moved Wednesday from the Democratic Republic of Congo to nearby Rwanda, a spokesman said.

The refugees belong to an obscure Catholic sect that follows a female prophet called Zebiya and claim to have fled their homeland due to religious persecution.

In January the group said humanitarian agencies had stopped delivering them aid, after their refusal to register on a biometric database, which they said would violate their religion.

"It has been two months that we have had no food aid from the (United Nations refugee agency), we were living under threat from our Congolese neighbours and we feared being extradited to Burundi," said a representative of the refugees, Dionyse Nyandwi.

He said the refugees had told the UN mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO that they wished to leave "for another country where we would be safe" and the peacekeepers escorted them to Rwanda, some five kilometres (three miles) away, on foot.

"We are waiting to be registered ... and we hope for a better welcome from the Rwandans because we speak the same language and have the same culture," said Nyandwi of the Burundians who have a similar ethnic background to Rwandans.

In September last year 36 Burundian refugees died in clashes with Congolese soldiers during a protest over the detention of some of their counterparts.

The UN in January announced a probe into the violence.Tens of thousands of Burundians have fled to the eastern DR Congo to escape a wave of violence that unfurled in 2015 after Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a fiercely contested third term in office.